A part-time faculty member can elect to participate in The New School's health care and dental care plans if he or she meets the eligibility requirements set forth in the collective bargaining agreement between the university and ACT-UAW. A key criterion is that part-time faculty members must have worked at the university for at least one academic year before they become eligible for health care and/or dental care plan coverage. In light of that criterion, newly hired part-time faculty members are not eligible for coverage during the first year of their employment with the university. Please review the Benefits Eligibility Checklist for Academic Year 2013-2014 (PDF) to determine whether you are currently eligible for health care and dental care coverage. 

If you are eligible to participate in the university’s health care and dental care plans, you can also enroll the following eligible dependents:

• A spouse (a copy of a marriage certificate is required)
• A same- or opposite-sex domestic partner (a copy of an approved Statement of Domestic Partnership (PDF) is required) 
• A child (or children) through the end of the year in which he/she turns 26* (a copy of a birth certificate which shows the names of both the parent and the child or legal documentation of adoption or court-ordered care by the employee is required)
• A dependent child (or children) who was found to have a disability before the attainment of age 19 (a copy of a birth certificate which shows the names of both the parent and the child or legal documentation of adoption or court-ordered care by the employee and documentation of disability status are required)

A child (or children) is defined as:

• Your biological child
• Your stepchild
• Your qualified domestic partner’s child
• Your legally adopted child
• Your foster child, including any child placed with you for adoption
• Any child for whom you are responsible under court order

Eligible dependents can be enrolled only during your initial eligibility period or enrolled or dropped from coverage during the Annual Open Enrollment period each fall unless you and/or your dependent experience a Change in Status as defined by the Internal Revenue Code.

*Once a child no longer meets eligibility requirements, you must notify the benefits staff within 30 days so that the child can be removed from your coverage and offered continuation coverage through COBRA or through the New York State Coverage Expansion through the Age 29 Act (NYS Young Adult Option).

Contributions

You and the university share in the cost of coverage (PDF). Contributions for health care plan and dental care plan coverage for you, an opposite-sex spouse, or a dependent child (or children), if applicable, are deducted on a pre-tax basis from your paycheck. If you have enrolled a domestic partner or same-sex spouse, the portion of the contributions attributable to your coverage in the health care plan and dental care plan are deducted on a pre-tax basis. However, the portion of the contribution attributable to the domestic partner’s or same-sex spouse's coverage is withheld from each biweekly paycheck on an after-tax basis, and the portion of the university’s contribution attributable to your domestic partner’s or same-sex spouse's coverage is added to your earnings as taxable income (referred to as “imputed income”). IMPORTANT: Please refer to the imputed income chart for domestic partner/same-sex spouse only coverage (PDF) or the imputed income chart for domestic partner/same-sex spouse and child(ren) coverage (PDF) for detailed taxation information.